Just having seen Hora’s post
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anyone-lost-a-carbon-santa-cruzmanchester
Which practically has dodgy written all over it, how do the police take people reporting suspicious stuff?
Short of someone going that’s my bike is there anything they can do?
Kind of looking for a police perspective on this one, bike theft (anecdotally) seems to be on the rise and the values we are talking not must make it a serious amount of pounds worth being stolen.

Perhaps the other approach is a site to upload your stolen bike to and then let people submit an add with similar tags – Brand, Model, Extra Kit – get a 70% match and you get emailed the link?

Removing the ability of the thief to move the bike on for quick cash might also help with the problem.

Removing the ability of the thief to move the bike on for quick cash might also help with the problem.

I was thinking if one had ones name and post code all over the tubes in big lettering indellible or a riveted plate would that be a deterrent / bar to punting it out to honest buyers and make it less worth stealing in the first place? obviously a bit easier to trace as well.

In my experience the police aren’t helpful at all even when you give them the name & address of the person who has your bike & then even tell them what time the thief person will be at home with the bike.

This is a good site for looking for searching for your bike across several sites.

Removing the ability of the thief to move the bike on for quick cash might also help with the problem.

Bikes are just too easy to break down though. You know how sometimes you see a stock bike but with a weird random choice of fork on it or some wheels that just don’t seem “right”?

It’s a case of thieves swapping bits around between bikes to make them less distinctive to the owner who might be looking for their “exact” bike.